GEOLOGICAL UNITS......................................................................................................................................

2
MELBOURNE FORMATION..................................................................................................................................2
OLDER VOLCANICS............................................................................................................................................2
NEWER VOLCANICS............................................................................................................................................3
BRIGHTON GROUP..............................................................................................................................................3
COODE ISLAND SILT...........................................................................................................................................4
FISHERMENS BEND SILT/JOLIMONT CLAY........................................................................................................4
MORAY STREET GRAVELS.................................................................................................................................5
PORT MELBOURNE SAND...................................................................................................................................5
IN SITU TESTING............................................................................................................................................ 6
SPT......................................................................................................................................................................6
CPT.....................................................................................................................................................................6
DCP.....................................................................................................................................................................6
FLAT DILATOMETER TEST (DMT)....................................................................................................................7
PRESSUREMETER TEST (PMT)..........................................................................................................................7
CPT ANALYSIS FORMULA............................................................................................................................... 8
NON-COHESIVE SOIL..........................................................................................................................................9
COHESIVE SOIL...................................................................................................................................................9
PERMEABILITY TEST.................................................................................................................................... 10
CONSTANT HEAD..............................................................................................................................................10
FALLING HEAD..................................................................................................................................................10
BASE SHEAR................................................................................................................................................ 11
SURVEY....................................................................................................................................................... 11
ADJUST MISCLOSURE.......................................................................................................................................11
MEASUREMENT ERRORS..................................................................................................................................11
Geological Units
Melbourne Formation
Material
 Low to medium strength rock
 sandstone (brittle) & siltstone (ductile)
Mass
 open folds
 high jointed in places, regular joint spacing
 Highly persistent bedding planes
 Faults (all types), some with fault gouge
 Intruded by dykes
Geomorphological
 Formed in the Silurian age along the Yarra delta area
 Deep chemical weathering
 Sediments become clay minerals – colour black when fresh, becomes white when
weathered and grades in between
 Extensive mechanical weathering, highly variable surface level

When loaded
 deformation influenced by mass, material and environmental properties. Moderate
stiffness
When unloaded
 some heave, block movement, increase in permeability
change water pressure
 leads to block movement

Older Volcanics
Material
 very high strength rock
 some layers of tuff and ash (hard soils)
Mass
 Very highly jointed (10 mm spacing)
 Vesicles and amygdales
Geomorphological
 formed due to ash flows from volcanic activity in the Tertiary age
 Extensive chemical weathering, can be through full thickness. Produces red, highly
plastic clays
 Extensive chemical weathering on rock joint surfaces
 Extensive mechanical weathering, sporadic occurrence

When loaded
 high deformation where weathered or highly fractured
When unloaded
 some heave and increase in permeability. Block movement
Change water pressure
 leads to change in strength

Newer Volcanics
Material
 very high strength basalt (bluestone)
 Some scoria and tuff
Mass
 vertical joints most prominent
 joints open
 clay seams, boulders within clay matrix
Geomorphological
 formed in the quaternary age
 Chemical weathering to shallow depth. Produces highly plastic (reactive) clays
 Weathers from joints outward to produce core stones
 Some mechanical around water courses

when loaded
 small deformation of rock
 high deformation of clay
 rock likely to fail on joints, clay can fail in shear
when unloaded
 block failure can occur along rock joints or fissures in clay
change water pressure
 clay can soften considerably
 little effect on rock

Brighton Group
Material
 Dense to very dense sands, some cemented
 Stiff to hard clays (over consolidated)
Mass
 Generally massive
 some figures in clay
 Uneven bedding planes, lenses and buried channels
Geomorphological
 formed in the tertiary age
 Some chemical weathering – produces red staining, iron concretions and
cementation
 localised mechanical erosion, especially around drainage courses

When loaded
 high deformation particularly if highly plastic clays have softened
when unloaded
 sand can lose density and become lose
 some heave
  can have block failure along fissure
 can have very high strength layers
change water pressure
 change in effective stress can cause lowering of strength of sand leading to erosion

Coode Island Silt

Material
 very soft to soft clay
 contains acid sulphate
Mass
 generally massive
 some beds of sand organic material
Geomorphological
 formed in the quaternary age as a result of rising sea level
 generally not weathered
when loaded
 high amount of deformation
 fails in shear at low loads
when unloaded
 heave prevalent
 slope failure at shallow angles
change water pressure
 high amount of consolidation and settlement if water pressure lowered
 ongoing natural settlement under own self weight

Fishermens Bend silt/Jolimont clay

Material
 firm to stiff clay or silt
Mass
 some fissures associated with unloading
 bedding planes and lenses between silt and clay beds
Geomorphological
 formed in the quaternary age
 Chemical weathering has given material a brown staining
 Mechanical weathering at surface of material has led to uneven surface with
channels
when loaded
 high amount of deformation
 can fail in shear
when unloaded
 some heave
 slope failure at relatively shallow angles
change water pressure
 can cause consolidation and settlement if water pressure lowered
Moray Street Gravels
Material
 High strength sand to gravel size rounded quartz pebbles
 some sand and silt beds
 permeable
Mass
 Generally massive, but some lenses and bedding of different materials
 can contain timber
Geomorphological
 formed during the quaternary age
 very little weathering

when loaded
 stiff response, little deformation. deformation of this material may depend more on
materials underlying
When unloaded
 gravel can become loose
change water pressure
 sandy lenses can soften if water pressure increased
 highly permeable

Port Melbourne Sand

Material
 well sorted sand
Mass
 generally massive
Geomorphological
 quaternary age
 less weathered
In situ Testing

SPT - determines the geotechnical properties of soil (relative density, bearing

capacity) great depth
Advantages
 Obtain sample + number
 Conducted at every 1.5 interval
 Simple & rugged device at low cost
 Suitable in many soil types
 Can perform in weak rocks
 Available worldwide

Disadvantages
 Obtain sample + number
 Disturbed sample (index test only)
 Crude number for analysis
 Not applicable in soft clays and silts
 High variability and uncertainty

CPT – determines the geotechnical properties of soil great depth

Advantages
 Fast and continuous profiling of strata
 Economical and productive
 Results not operator- dependent
 Strong theoretical basis for interpretation
 Particularly suited to soft soils

Disadvantages
 High capital investment
 Requires skill operator field use
 Electronic must be calibrated & protected
 No soil samples
 Unsuited to dense sands, gravels or rock

DCP – measures the strength of in-situ soil and thickness and location of
subsurface soil layers Limited depth
 measures the number of blows it takes to penetrate every 100mm
 Similar to CPT
Vane Shear Test (VST) – assess the undrained shear strength of clays limited depth
Advantages
 Simple test and equipment
 Measure in place sensitivity
 Long history of use in practice for embankments, foundations, cut

Disadvantages
 Limited to soft to stiff clays & silts with Suv (peak undrained strength) < 200
kPa
 Raw Suv needs empirical correction
 Can be affected by sand seams and lenses
 no soil samples

Flat dilatometer test (DMT) – determines the strength and deformation

characteristics of fine-grained soils
Advantages
 Simple and robust equipment
 Repeatable and operator-independent
 Quick and economical
 Theoretical derivations for elastic modulus, strength, stress history

Disadvantages
 Difficult to push in very dense materials and not suitable for gravels
 No soil samples
 Primarily established on correlative relationships
 Needs calibration for local geologies

Pressuremeter Test (PMT) – determines stress-strain response of the tested

soil
- determines elastic modulus and lateral (horizontal) pressure

Test pits limited depth

advantage
 inexpensive
 good bulk sample collection
 large exposure of soil profile
disadvantage
 cant get through rock
Hand auger limited depth
advantage
 cheap, fast
disadvantage
 cant penetrate rock, hard clays and dense sands
 limited sampling

Boreholes slow beyond 10 meters

advantage
 drill through all material types beyond 60m
 allows insitu testing
 undisturbed samples
disadvantage
 expensive
 quality of bore and recovered samples highly dependent on operator
skill
 limited window to view soil and rock

CPT Analysis formula
qt = total tip resistance
qc = uncorrected cone resistance
Fs = sleeve friction
U2 = pore pressure
U0 = static pore pressure
Fr = friction ratio
Bq =Pore pressure parameter

Area ratio
2
d
2
D

Total tip resistance

q t=qc + ( 1−a )∗u 2

Friction ratio
Fs
∗100 %
qt
Static pore pressure
u0 =γ w∗z

Pore pressure parameter

u 2−u0
B q=
q t−σ vo

Over-consolidation ratio (OCR) OCR = 1(normally consolidated), >1, over consolidated

σp'
OCR= '
σv0
pre-consolidation stress is determined by,

qt −¿σ
σ p '= vo
¿
3

Effective stress
'
σ v 0=σ vo−u 0

Undrained shear strength

 0.8 '
Su=0.23∗OCR ∗σ v 0

Effective friction angle,

' qt
φ =arctan ⁡[0.1+ 0.38∗log '
]
σv0

The relative density is calculated by using,

Normalized cone resistance

Dr =100∗
√ qt 1
300∗OCR
0.2

q t
q t 1= ' 0.5
, qt ∈atm; 1 atm=100 kPa
σ v0
( )
σ atm

Non-cohesive soil
 friction angle
 relative density(Dr)

Cohesive soil
 OCR
 Undrained shear strength (Su)

Permeability Test
Constant Head

QL
k=
^¿ ,Q i n cm3 ¿
Falling head

aL h1
k =2.3 log
A ∆t h2

Base Shear

Kp = probability factor
Z = hazard factor
Ch = elastic site hazard spectrum
T1 = natural period of structure
Sp = structural performance factor
mu = structural ductility factor
Wt = weight of the structure

V =[ K ¿ ¿ p Z C h (T 1) S p / μ]W t ¿

0.75
T 1=1.25 K t hn

kt = 0.11 moment-resisting steel frames

= 0.075 moment-resisting concrete frames
= 0.06 eccentrically – braced steel frames
= 0.05 all other structures

Hn = height from base of the structure to uppermost seismic weight

Survey
Adjust misclosure

misclosure
∗¿ of set ups ¿ this point
Total setups

Adjusted RL=meeasured RL−RL correction

misclosure(mm)=12 √ k , k ∈km
Measurement Errors

Gross error:
-caused by human carelessness, miscommunication, fatigue, poor judgement
- can be avoided by alertness, careful field practices and experience

Systematic Error:
-will always be the same magnitude and direction under the same conditions
-caused by instrument and certain environmental factors
-example: imperfectly adjusted instrument
-can be avoided by applying corrections, carefully designing the measuring
technique

Random Error
-unpredictable error caused by uncontrollable fluctuations in variables that
affect measurement results
-example: temperature variation
-can be avoided by improving instruments quality, environmental conditions